Bayern Munich surged seven points clear in the Bundesliga after Luca Toni and Franck Ribery secured a 2-0 home win over Karlsruhe while Werder Bremen were thumped 6-3 at VfB Stuttgart.

Karlsruhe held firm at the Allianz Arena until Toni squeezed in a shot four minutes before halftime. Ribery made the game safe with a virtuoso goal in the second half.

Mario Gomez netted a hat-trick as champions Stuttgart recorded a memorable victory at home to Werder who had briefly led through Hugo Almeida but ended up well beaten and a man short, Per Mertesacker being sent off in the closing stages.

After 23 matches Bayern lead on 50 points followed by Werder on 43.

Hamburg SV, third on 41, will move up to second and cut Bayern's lead to six points if they win at Nuremberg on Sunday.

Bayer Leverkusen, fourth on 38, are also in action on Sunday at home to Hanover 96.

Bayern had less than 48 hours to recover from their 5-0 win at Anderlecht in the UEFA Cup on Thursday and unsurprisingly took time to get going against Karlsruhe.

Ribery forced a sharp save with a low free kick from the edge of the area in the 34th minute but there was little else from Bayern before Toni grabbed his 14th league goal of the season.

There seemed little danger when Christian Lell floated the ball in to Toni, who had his back to goal at the near post. As the defence waited, the Italian spun round and beat the keeper with a precise shot.

Bayern's one moment of real quality finished Karlsruhe off.

In the 64th minute Ribery drifted in from the left, tricked his way into the penalty area and shot through the final defender's legs.

Werder seemed set to make up for their UEFA Cup defeat by Rangers when they took the lead against Stuttgart with a ninth-minute header from Almeida.

Stuttgart hit back to take a 2-1 lead with two goals from Gomez before Werder equalised after an hour thanks to a deflected shot from Sebastian Boenisch.

The home team's response was devastating. Gomez tapped in a Cacau cross to complete his hat-trick in the 65th minute and seconds later Gomez turned provider for Cacau to lash home.

Markus Rosenberg reduced Werder's arrears before Mertesacker put through his own net with six minutes to go to give Stuttgart breathing space.

There was still time for Cacau to score his second and for Mertesacker to see red for bringing down Gomez.

Schalke 04, who reached the Champions League quarter-finals in midweek, put a run of three Bundesliga defeats behind them by beating Arminia Bielefeld 2-0 with a header from Gustavo Varela and a second-half strike from Halil Altintop.

Reuters